Cushman & Wakefield plc (NYSE:CWK) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 29, 2024 5:00 PM ET

Corporate Participants

Megan McGrath - Head of Investor Relations
Michelle MacKay - Chief Executive Officer
Neil Johnston - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Stephen Sheldon - William Blair
Ronald Kamdem - Morgan Stanley
Anthony Paolone - JPMorgan
Michael Griffin - Citi
Peter Abramowitz - Jefferies

Operator

Good day and welcome to Cushman & Wakefield's Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Megan McGrath, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Megan McGrath

Thank you and welcome to Cushman & Wakefield's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period. This release along with today's presentation can be found on our investor relations website at ir.cushmanwakefields.com.

Please turn to the page in our presentation labeled cautionary note on forward-looking statements. Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements based on our current forecast and estimates of future events. These statements should be considered estimates only and actual results may differ materially.

During today's call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures as outlined by SEC guidelines. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures definitions of non-GAAP financial measures and other related information are found within the financial tables of our earnings release and the appendix of today's presentation. Also, please note that throughout the presentation, comparisons and growth rates are to the comparable periods of 2023 and in local currency unless otherwise stated.

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO, Michelle MacKay.

Michelle MacKay

Thank you, Megan. I've now been the CEO of Cushman & Wakefield for a year and the progress our teams have made during that time has been impressive. We have never settled, committing to what we have said and executing on our plan relentlessly, setting clear targets and goals for what we needed to achieve for ourselves and for our investors and then getting it done.

Let me speak about exceeding those targets. A year ago, we started off strong refinancing over a billion dollars of debt and committing to reducing our leverage by a minimum of $200 million by mid-year 2025. We have already reduced our debt by $100 million through the second quarter and we plan to make another $50 million reduction this quarter, putting us ahead of our plans.